September 07, 2017
Decoupling is back in Asia: A 1960s playbook won't solve these problems
It has been quite a summer in Pyongyang. Between July 4th, when it tested its first ICBM, and Labor Day weekend, when it detonated its sixth nuclear bomb — possibly a thermonuclear weapon — North Korea has presented the United States and the world with a new strategic reality. Pyongyang can use long-range missiles to reach almost any location in the United States, and likely has several dozen warheads. If it hasn’t fully miniaturized its nuclear capability yet, it is right on the cusp. And if its sixth nuclear test isn’t an H-bomb, it is least a boosted-fission weapon with the ability to devastate major cities. Observers should not cling hopefully to news of failed re-entry vehicles — North Korea is no longer a risible, rag-tag nuclear aspirant. For all intents and purposes, Pyongyang can hold much of the continental United States at risk and has functionally achieved a second-strike nuclear capability.
Read the full op-ed in War on the Rocks.
More from CNAS
-
Don’t Betray the Women of Afghanistan
Normalizing relations with the Taliban before they reverse their anti-women policies would amount to pretending as if those two decades of progress never happened....
By Lisa Curtis & Hadeia Amiry
-
Deterring the Powerful Enemy
It is a privilege to testify here on matters that are important to the vital national security interests of the United States, as well as those of our other allies and partner...
By Tom Shugart
-
Forging a New Era of U.S.-Japan-South Korea Trilateral Cooperation
Executive Summary In August 2023, the leaders of Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and the United States met for an unprecedented in-person summit at Camp David to expand an...
By Lisa Curtis, Evan Wright & Hannah Kelley
-
The State of the US-India Relationship
Michael Green is joined by Lisa Curtis, Senior Fellow and Director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. The conversation begins with...
By Lisa Curtis & Michael J. Green